Hardware manufactures could (and should) put separate mic and cam LEDs wired directly in line with (wire in parallel to)the power circuits for the mic and camera. They won’t, but they should. Best they ever do is a digitally controlled LED that is sketchy as fuck, for the camera only.
It’s a bit more expensive, because a pure electrical switch wouldn’t age well and you’d get bad connections sometimes. They implemented an optical switch that does the same job. That’s probably whole pennies per unit more expensive, and ain’t HP got time for that.
You know, a piece of black tape would’ve been a lot easier.
Or if computer manufacturers just put in a hardware disconnect for the camera and mic. Like Lenovo used to do with the wifi switch.
That wont help with recording the audio from the mic
Hardware manufactures could (and should) put separate mic and cam LEDs wired directly in line with (wire in parallel to)the power circuits for the mic and camera. They won’t, but they should. Best they ever do is a digitally controlled LED that is sketchy as fuck, for the camera only.
Framework does. Switches for the mic and camera both electrically disconnect the devices: https://community.frame.work/t/the-1080p-webcam/157
It’s a bit more expensive, because a pure electrical switch wouldn’t age well and you’d get bad connections sometimes. They implemented an optical switch that does the same job. That’s probably whole pennies per unit more expensive, and ain’t HP got time for that.
That’s actually really cool. Framework will likely be my next laptop.